Cement handling plant



July 28, 1936. H. E. MCRERY CEMENT HANDLING PLANT Filed Sept. l2, 1933 4SheeS-Sheel'l l INVENTO July 28, 1936. H. E. MCCRERY CEMENT HANDLINGPLAN1 Filed Sept. l2, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 CLU V Nw www E W Q mw, 1 mmv@o u, LT t S @IN Sw QW V July 28, 1936. H. E. MCCRERY CEMENT HANDLINGPLANT Filed Sept. l2, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 SM www July 28, 1936. H. E.MCCRERY CEMENT HANDLING PLANT 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. l2, 1953 huw.

INVENTOR Patented July 28, 1936 STTES CEMENT HANDLING PLANT Harold-E.McCrery, Aspinwall, Pa., assigner to Blaw-Knox Company, tion of NewJersey Blawnox, Pa., a corporay Application September 12, 1933, SerialNo. 689,099 2 claims. (o1. 214-2) This invention relates to thehandling, storage and measuring of cement and other loose materials,more particularly such materials as enter into a mix to be poured inconstruction of concrete structures, such as roads. In certain of itsaspects itis an improvement on my copending application Serial No.654,866 led February 2, 1933. The apparatus to which the presentapplication relates is adapted to receive the materials in a variety ofdifferent ways. For instance, inthe construction of concrete roads it isfrequently necessary to receive the material to be used for makingconcrete from a number of difvferent sources. The material may bereceived by truck from the nearest point of rail delivery, or thehandling apparatus to which this application relates may be located at arailway siding and receive the material from railroad cars, either ofthe box car type or of the hopper bottom type.

rl'he contracts for such. roads may be for a short stretch of a mile ortwo up to a stretch yof twenty or more miles. It is frequentlyconvenient to convey the material to the actual site of the portion ofthe road under construction and itis customary in such cases to employportable apparatus which may be moved from place to place as the workprogresses. The apparatus disclosed herein is adapted to have a smallstorage capacity if the source of supply oi' cement is reliable andcontinuous; or it is adapted to" have considerable storage capacitywhere this is desirable, provision being made for an extension of thestorage capacity without fundamental change in the installationpreviously employed.

In the drawings which are intended, not to limit my invention but toshow as illustrations certain embodiments which my invention mayassume,-

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of apparatus constructed inaccordance with my invention and arranged to unload hopper bottom cars;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view in elevation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1and 2;

- Fig. iis a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale,illustrating a modied form of apparatus embodying my invention;

Fig. 5 is a detail View of the gate for controlling discharge ofmaterial from the batcher; Fig. 6 is a detail view partially in centralvertical section on the line VI-VI of Fig. 1 showing the construction ofthe top end of the vertical conveyor; A

Fig. 7 is a detail view with parts broken away. illustrating theconstruction of the shaker screens; v

Fig. 8 is a detail View similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating thelconstruction ofthe lower end of. the vertical conveyor, where itreceives materialV from the horizontal conveyor; and- Fig. 9 is acentral vertical'sectionV along the axis of the horizontal conveyor. i

As is clearly evidentfrom Fig. 1,"when it is desired to have storagespaceavailable, the apparatus comprises a storage receptacle such. asthe storage bin II, a batcher designated .in general by the numeral I2andequipment for receiving the material and delivering the sameselectively to the bin VII or ,to the batcher I2. In the form ofapparatus showni-n Fig. 1, the cement arrives on a siding in hopperbottom cars I4 and is dumped into the horizontal conveyor, designated ingeneral by the numeral I5, through the hoppers I6.v In thisinstallation, the horizontal conveyor must be longenough to extend outbeyondfthe bin IIv underneath the tracks of the siding; and as shown inFigs. 1 and 4 this horizontalconveyor comprises a casing I8- and anoutercasing I9 with a connectionV at 26 between the two. casings.' Thearrangement shown in Fig. 9 is a convenient one forthe connectionbetween these two casings.l As shown in this figure, the screw 22 is intwo sections united by a splice 23; and a manhole 2liA affords access tothe screw at this point when the second casing I9 is added to extend thelength of the horizontal conveyor.

Loose material dumped `from the car I4, is carried along by the screw22; and as shown more particularly in Fig. 8, the horizontal conveyor I5discharges material through a lateral port 25 adjacent the bottom of thescrew y26 which operates within the casing of the vertical conveyordesignated in general by the lnumeral 28. A bottom section 29 ofthevcasing of the vertical conveyor affords a bearing at 30 for thescrew 25. Additional sections 32, y33, etc. may be built up on thebottom section 29, the Vheight of the vertical conveyor depending uponthe extent to which these sections are built up. This is particularlydesirable with portable installations where atdifferent storage capacitymay be required vat one point from the storage capacity required atanother point. `As the'storage capacity of the bin I I is varied, theheight to which the vertical conveyor is extended is varied to meet therequirement for elevating the material for discharge into the bin.

The bin II is sectional so that storage capacity to various extents maybe afforded. The bottom section 35 converges in the form of an invertedcone and has flanges for connection to the flanges of an inlet 31 madeintegral with the casing I8 of the horizontal conveyor I5. In most casesa larger capacity than that afforded by thev section 35 will bedesirable; and in Fig. 1 a main section 38 is shown mounted on thebottom section 35. In addition, there is shown in Fig. l a conical topsection 39 mounted on the main'section 38. Ifthe main section 38 beomitted, and

the vertical conveyor 28 shortened by building up a less number ofsections, an installation of smaller storage capacity is provided. -From`the top of the vertical conveyor 28, a branch or chute 40 directs thematerial downwardly at an into the batcher I2. Material is supplied tother batcher I2 through a fabric neck connection 44 under control of agate 45. This gate may be of the rapid opening and closing typedescribed and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 654,866,filed February 2, 1933. The neck connection 44 is a'exible connection torender the support of the batcher independent of the vertical conveyoror chute 42 and is of flexible material, fabric being preferred,although other flexible materials are available which may be usedinstead of fabric.

The batcher proper includes an elongated container 46 which, as shown inFig. 1, may consist of along tube. This container 46 issupported fromthe vertical conveyor 28 by gusset plates 46 through a lever 41 and a,link 48. The lever 41 pivotallyY engages the container 46 and isfulcrumed on the upper gusset plate 46'. A con-A necting rod 41', whoselength may be adjusted by a turn buckle, imparts a pull due to theweight of the container 46 and its contents to the scale mechanism. Thisscale mechanism may be operated in the usual manner to determine theweight of the batch. The link 48 is pivoted both to the lower gussetplate 46 and to a similar plate 48' on the container 46. The relative Vpositions of the lever 41 and link 48 may be reversed if desired. At thelower end of the container 46 is a second lower gate 49 illustrated in`more detail in Fig. 5. It will be understood thatboth the gate 45 andthe gate 49 are substantially alike in principle of operation. Aplurality of transverse rods 50 carry overlapping leaves or shutters 5I,and a plurality of short levers 52 mounted on the ends of the rods50gare operable simultaneously, throughbeing connected together by alink 53, by a pull on the cord-54.v Closing of the gate is brought aboutby a tension spring 55 connected to an extension of one of the shortlevers. The cord 54 is directed about a pulley 56 (see Fig. 1) and isled in such a direction that pulling on it to maintain the gate 49 opendoes not interfere with the Vproper balancing of the scale.V When thegate 49 is open, thematerial is discharged through aV flexible outletpipeY 51, this pipe being preferably of canvas and so con-A structed asto have its end readilyY insertible into the compartment of the truck towhich cement is to be delivered. The cord 58 leads from the gate 45about a pulley 59 and is directed to the operators position. Vibratormeans (not shown) may be attached to the batcher I2 to cause 5 thecement to run out freely when the gate 49 is open.

'I'he gearing and drivingmeans for the con- Y veyors are illustratedmore particularly in Figs.

3 and 8 of the drawings. A sprocket chain about 10 alarge sprocket 60 onthe inner end of the screw 22 of the horizontal conveyor extends alsoabout a smaller sprocket 6I (see Fig. 3) mounted on the drive shaft 62for the vertical conveyor. To make the construction clearer, thesprocket 15 chains are omitted from Fig. 8. In order to drive A theshaft 62 and through it the sprocket 60, a

jack shaft-64 is mounted parallel to the shaft 62,

and a gear couple 65 and 66 provides for driving the shaft 62 from thejack shaft 64. 'I'he jack 20 shaft 64 has secured thereto a sprocket 68which is driven by a motor 10 through a sprocket chain 1I. It may, undercertain circumstances, be desirable to use a horizontal and a verticalconveyor having casings of the same diameter and screws ofY 25 the samepitch; and the driving arrangement i1- luStrated inA Figs. 3 and 8brings about a considerably higher rate of rotation of the verticalconveyor so thateven though greater slippage of the material occurs inthe vertical conveyor, its 30.'

capacity is greater than the capacity of the horizontalfconveyor, andthis arrangement avoids blocking Vofthe horizontal conveyor by materialwhich might become packed inv this conveyor if the vertical'conveyorwerenot capable of carry- 35' ing upwardly al1 of the materialdischarged through the opening 25.

.The driving'motor 10, the storage bin I I, and the conveyor system areall mounted on a common basestructure 15. The legs 16 of the bin II 40rest on this common base structure; and it is evident from Figs. 1 and 3that the conveyor system is likewise supported thereon. This makes iteasy toerect the installation in the field, since it is merely necessaryto provide piers at equal eleva- 4,5A

tions so as to render the setting of the base Structure 15 on thesepiers a simple matter.

When cement is received in bulk, there is a possibility that bolts,nuts, sticks or the like which would seriously damage the screwconveyors, may 50;

have found their way into the cement. I accordingly provide shakerscreens mounted in the hoppers I6 so as to separate out such foreignmaterial. A further function of the shaker screens 80 is to preventbridging of material such as ce- 55A ment over the hoppers I6, sincesuch materials as cement, when passing into a restricted opening, tendto pack and bridge over such opening. A sprocket 8I on the end of thescrew 22 of the horizontal conveyor actuates the shaker screens 80 60through a sprocket and chain connection 82.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, unloading may be effected from a boxcar. For this purpose, the horizontal conveyor I5 comprises a secondsection I9 formed with an inlet 31 to 65 which is connected a hopper 35substantially identical with the lower section of the bin II o1" theembodiment shown in Fig. 1. A drag scraper 84 is actuated through acable 85 passed about a pulley 86 and actuated by a drum operated by the70 motor 16. A trough or chute 88 bridges the gap between the box carand the hopper 35.

If desired, the batcher I2 may be enclosed within a shroud so as toYprevent tampering by unauthorized' persons and to protect the batcher 75from the wind. It will be furthermore understood that if a more completeand highly perfected installation is desired, interlocking controlssimilar in function to those illustrated and described in iny patentsnumbered 1,978,215 and 1,995,458 may be applied to the batcher so thatthe upper gate 45 cannot be opened unless the scale registers that thecontainer 46 is empty and unless also the lower gate is closed, whilethe lower gate GS cannot be opened unless the scale registers the properweight in the container 66.

In operation, the material is received and dumped either directly intothe horizontal conveyor I5 by Way of the hoppers rst into a hopper suchas the hopper 35 of Fig. 4, and thence into the horizontal conveyor I5.From this conveyor the material is discharged through the opening 25 andcarried upwardly by the vertical conveyor 28. If hatching is beingcarried on at this time; at least a part of the material is divertedthrough the branch or chute l2 into the batcher I2. Any surplus notrequired for hatching operations is carried on upwardly and dischargedthrough the branch or chute 40 into the bin I I. Should it be desired tocarry on hatching operations at a time when no material is beingdelivered, the material may be discharged from the bin II through asuitable gate or valve into the horizontal conveyor I9 and through theopening 25 into the vertical conveyor 28 for delivery to the batcher I2.

In operating the batcher, the upper louver gate 45 is opened and keptopen until the proper batch of material lhas accumulated in thecontainer B6. The operator will soon learn to release the cord 58 intime so that the last increment of material brings the batch up to thedesired weight. Should, however, an excess of material be delivered intothe container 46, an outlet' such as a flap valve 9B may be opened bypulling on the cord SI, thereby discharging the surplus through a chute92 to a point of disposal. As has been made evident from the descriptionof the apparatus shown in the drawings, there is considerable latitudeas to the make up of a given installation. If desired, the bin may beeliminated altogether and the cement delivered to a horizontal conveyorthrough hoppers such as at IS in Fig. 1 or through a hopper such asshown at 35 in Fig. 4, or in other suitable manner. In this case, thematerial is all delivered to the batcher I2 and the conveyor system mustbe halted or kept in operation in accordance with the requirement of thebatcher I2. Due to the sectional nature of the vertical conveyor 28 andthe storage bin II, considerable latitude is alorded in the extent towhich storage space may be provided.

The apparatus here shown is relatively simple, cheap to build and easyto take down, transport and re-erect. This simplicity extends to thefoundation upon which the apparatus is erected, the cost of sucherection being reduced by such simplification.

Certain advantages of my invention arise from the use of an inclinedbatcher inasmuch as the I6 or discharged' inclined batcher constitutesan inclined pipe or tube which discharges at a sufcient distancelaterally from its inlet to render it feasible to use a vertical screwconveyer for elevating the cement. It will be noted that in theconstructions illustrated, the lower end of the container 46 issufficiently far away from the vertical conveyer to give clearance fortrucks to drive beneath the outlet pipe 5T. The inclined container Q6 isin effect the hopper of a scale, being supported by a parallel linksupport. The extension of one of these links, such extension beinglink-ed to a scale, affords means for determining the moment tending tolower the container I6 and swing the parallel links about their pivots.In this connection it is noteworthy that the two inner pivots and thetwo outer pivots of the two links are in vertical alinement. Thisassists in obtaining accurate measurement of the weight of the containerand contents.

Further advantages arise from the ability to circulate the material bymeans of the lconveyor system, so that if only a portion of the materialbeing delivered from the freight car or truck is needed for presentpurposes, the surplus may be stored and later put into circulation againfor delivery to the batcher. Other advantages will be apparent from thedescription and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims.

While I have shown and described certain preferred embodiments which myinvention may assume, it will be understood that various modificationsmay be made in the details of construction and in the arrangement ofparts and that my invention may be variously embodied and practicedwithin the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a Vertical support, a tubular container,mechanism balancing the container on an axis so inclined as to disposethe lower end of the container in spaced relation to the support, and agate at the lower end of the container, said balancing mechanismincluding a substantially horizontal lever pivoted intermediate its endsto said vertical support and at one end to the container, a link belowthe lever and substantially parallel thereto connecting the containerand said support, a vertical rod connected to the other end of saidlever, and scale mechanism connected to the lower end of said verticalrod for determining the weight of the batch in said container.

2. In a measuring device, in combination, a tubular container, andmechanism for balancing the container on an inclined axis including avertical support, a substantially horizontal lever pivoted intermediateits ends to said support and at one end to the container, a link belowthe lever and substantially parallel thereto, a gusset plate on thecontainer, said link connecting said gusset plate and said support bypivots in vertical alignment with the pivots of said lever, and scalemechanism connected to the other end of said lever for determining theweight of the batch in said container.

HAROLD E. MCCRERY.

